It’s fantastic to be on the other side of the holidays! Even though my kids were home for almost three weeks straight, my dog continues to cause ridiculous amounts of stress and a warm day is anything that is a positive number, I’m still grateful to be firmly in January of a new year.
Adios 2017. You were one bad hombre!
Peace out 2017!
WEEK OF JANUARY 1, 2018
RUNNING
If you’re looking for bundled up pictures of me with #badass and screenshots of below freezing temps, you have the wrong woman. I was happily running indoors, on my treadmill, in very little clothing, with the fan on and ice in my water bottle. If age has taught me anything about running it’s to be as comfortable as possible since running itself is hard enough!
Speaking of, I ran 9.79 miles on a treadmill on New Year’s Day after staying out until 1am. Now that is badass people…or just stupidity…you be the judge.
This is what crazy looks like.
Monday – Long aerobic with 5k accelerations every 5 min | 1:15:10 | 9.79 miles | 7:41 pace
Wednesday – Easy run before strength | 5.24 miles | 7:50 pace
Sunday – 400m sets on indoor track before strength | 5.27 miles | 7:20 pace
CYCLING
To all the people who told me to watch Shameless on Showtime — thank you! It has been my saving grace on the bike. However, since my kids have had one day of school in the past three weeks, it’s been a tad tricky to keep them from seeing a shot of someone’s boobs, bare ass or cocaine snorting as they are running around the basement while I pedal away. Parenting is very difficult.
That’s the face Vaughn makes when I try to parent him.
Tuesday – Base build – aerobic builds | 16.0 miles | 1:10:20
Friday – AC NP FTP (which translates into “try not to die on this ride!”) | 1:46:30
SWIMMING
I haven’t had a lot of time in the pool since my kids are never in school and I hate bringing them to the day care at the gym when I can bike and run at home. Despite my difficulties and first world problems, I was able to get in two days of recovery swims.
Tuesday – swim after bike | 40 minutes
Wednesday – swim after run and strength | 30 minutes
STRENGTH TRAINING
The muscle building continues although I had to quit CrossFit. Probably no one is surprised by this but, I had to at least give it a shot. The sessions are just too unpredictable. I need to strength train for endurance, running, swimming and cycling and doing 150 rounds of squats is not cutting it. A lot of the sessions are fantastic, and the people at the facility are knowledgeable and friendly, but it just doesn’t fit for me right now.
My coach is giving me plenty to do on my own and I’m growing accustom to the workouts. Imagine!
Look ma! Handstand push-ups for the win.
I primarily do two session per week and they involve a lot of band walking, lateral lunges, pull downs, chest presses, core work and overhead presses. There’s also a lot of balance with one leg moves and plenty of foam rolling to finish me off.
THINGS I LOVE
The holidays…now that they’re over.
Of course I enjoy the holidays, it’s all the preparation and craziness leading up to them I hate. Plus, all family flaws and petty annoyances become magnified and there’s a great, big, glaring light on who is not home and never will be.
Besides that, the holidays are amazing!
And my dad bought a bong. A wine bong obviously, since marijuana isn’t legal in Connecticut yet. It has something to do with aeration and the pours get more interesting as the night goes on.
Hits from the bong.
The boys on Christmas day.
THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH
New Year resolutions, or a word of the year, or non-resolutions. I get the idea of starting over in a new year but the constant “new year, new you” is so cliche. Instead, I love what one of my friends wrote on Instagram:
“I’m not making resolutions, I’m making adjustments based on what works.”
Yes. Exactly that! Set yourselves up for success based on what works. I’m going to start by showing my boobs more in 2018. They got a big reaction on New Year’s Eve…
Even my husband was shocked.
I have more “adjustments” I’ll be talking about next week in terms of my race goals for 2018. Stay tuned!
TELEVISION
Since we have been snowed or iced in for the better part of a month, there has been a lot of TV watching. My husband and I don’t hardly ever have this much TV time and it was amazing. We watched holiday classics, old favorites and started watching this gem too…
Master of None | Aziz Ansari | Netflix
The show is a hilarious take on Ansari’s life as an Indian actor trying to make a living and carve out a career in New York City. Each episode is unique and finds him in different situations so no need to watch each one or watch them in order. My favorites include him solo parenting, getting the Plan B pill with a girl and did you know the guy who played “Indian Man” in Short Circuit 2 is Fisher Stevens who is not Indian but did an Indian accent? Me either.
Do yourself a favor and watch something completely different and forget about the deep freeze for a while.
READING
One of the best books I have read in a long time is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It’s a quick read (I read it in two days) partly because it’s short and partly because you have a compulsion to find out what happened! It’s dark and not filled with sunshine and rainbows but what else do you expect here?
RANDOM PHOTO OF THE WEEK
When an inflatable bowling pin makes you this happy, you know it’s amazing to be eight!
Happy New Year everyone! It’s good to be back.
Are you happy to be on the other side of the holidays?
What is the best thing about 2018 so far?
Thank god we are on the other side of the holidays AND the deep freeze. Let’s get a good routine going again please!!! Oh wait. There’s two more days of no school this month no counting potential snow days. Yippee.
I know!! But at least this weekend we will be skiing 🙂 I think I can handle that!
I like the idea of new people at the gym starting over but I agree, it doesn’t always have to start on the first of the year. For me, I am starting today. I had a lot of friends of family over the last week so it wasn’t feasible to all of a sudden put Christmas cookies, and diners away…LOL
LOL exactly! I think I had a hard time with the holiday going on and on and on too. I’m ready to get back to my routine!
I like the idea of adjustments. I don’t do resolutions either.
You are badass running 9 miles on the treadmill. I’d much rather run in the deep freeze.
Dark and not filled with sunshine and rainbows? Where do I sign up? LOL
I honestly don’t know how I did the 9 miles on the treadmill but there were a lot of pace variations!
And you will absolutely LOVE that book!! 🙂
Happy new year Allie! I’m back to healthier eating in 2018 and I’m trying to write more regularly, which I didn’t do last week but it’s a new week, right? And both of my babies are home for all of January, so that’s a good thing (usually).
I’m so happy you will be writing more! And yes, when you don’t see your kids as often that is a very good thing. Mine need to go away for a while – LOL!!!
We love master of none… I will add we were liars to my reading list… I’ve always been curious about CrossFit but haven’t tried it because everyone who talks about it makes it seem like a cult and an expectation to go everyday… I’m going to pass
I think the only way to get anything out of CF is to go everyday, otherwise the workouts are too varied. It just wasn’t what i expected. Either the workouts were over the top hard or almost nothing. Definitely pass!
I’ve missed your posts! This made me laugh, especially the mental image of your kids running around the basement while you run on the treadmill with Shameless in the background. Master of None is a GREAT show. We watched Manhunt: Unabomber and Mindhunter over the holidays, and loved both. I’ve thought about you a lot during the weather lately because it has been so miserable here and I can’t even imagine what it is like in Connecticut!
Thanks Danielle! It’s good to be back!
We loved Mindhunter too so I will have to check out Manhunt: Unabomber – sounds exactly like something we would love.
I’m headed out for a long run today for the first time in weeks and it will be a balmy 30 degrees – wooohooo! Enjoy your southern temps since I’m sure, whatever they are, they are warmer!!
I am so with you on the never ending days with kids at home! We were finally all heading back to normal and my one kid is home sick with me… so another treadmill run here, sigh. But warmer temps ahead!
Oh no! I was so afraid of that happening to me too. I hope you can bust out of your cage today and that your daughter is feeling better!
It’s good to have you back blogging! I’m seriously impressed by your treadmill run of 9 miles after staying up late – that’s super badass. I’m glad to be on the other side of the holidays where there can be routine again and less booze and cookies to tempt me.
You’re the second person to recommend Master of None this week. I watched the pilot but should give it more of a try beyond that. I really liked Ansari on Parks and Rec.
It’s good to be back Laura, thanks!!
You definitely need to watch beyond the pilot episode of Master of None. I wasn’t impressed at first either and my husband made me keep watching. It’s worth it, I promise.
I’m with you. No shame in the treadmill game! I’m going to see if my library has that book. In a fit of madness I checked out a huge George Elliot novel and it’s not doing anything for me.
LOL! Sounds like the perfect quick read for you. I hope you can find it!
Ha! I’d be inside on the treadmill too. You’re so right, 2017 was one bad hombre. I’m glad to see it go! 🙂
I actually yelled at my husband “can’t we just book a trip to the west coast already?” and he knows it’s purely so I can run in sunshine again! Thanks Alyse 🙂
That bowling pin is damn near terrifying lol! I LOVED Master of None wait until you get to the second season. Brilliant. SO much better than the first…waiting patiently for season 3! Not sure where it could go. I totally agree. I don’t make resolutions because it’s annoying a super disappointing when you fail but the first always feels like a fresh start and a good time to reevaluate what is not working and adjust as necessary!
OMG you are so right about season 2! Absolutely love it and it’s even more brilliant.
We all know my NY resolutions: eat chocolate, birth baby, keep baby alive.
Last year, I declared that I wasn’t setting resolutions or goals, but instead priorities. I stand by that.
LOVE that! Prioritize so you know what you can push off until…whenever 🙂
Yes! No more “new year new you” crappity crap. Making adjustments based on what works – yes! I’m so happy that the holidays are over and the kids are back at school. I’m also so glad i got to see your face over the holidays.
xox
YES to all things back to school – of course now they have Fri and Mon off for MLK – sigh.
SO great seeing you too! I was just looking longingly at our Insta photo yesterday – LOL 🙂
Happy 2018, we made it!!! and congrats for not losing your mind or your dog!!!
I’m thrilled to be done with 2017. We had the most fabulous 5 days in Cancun early December, then came home and all the shit hit the fan at my job.. not literally but almost. I was so stressed it wrecked my soul, but tried to wash it off at home of course. My brother came to town and stayed for 3 weeks which was bliss. This was the first Christmas where our daughter actually almost cared and was pretty into it.. still wasn’t sure why we had to unwrap stuff and what’s up with ornaments and breakable crap everywhere??? but we had a blast and she got SOOOOOO many presents, it blew my mind. I’m guilty for most of them. damnit. but the hubby and i agree not presents for us and just for her. so that’s what I did.
I resolved to make positive changes for 2018, do SOMETHING joyful each day even if it’s listen to a great song, let go of things that don’t serve me, and stop letting my buttons get pushed. I will not let my buttons get pushed, darnit! My words for 2018: joy, live, nurture, mitochondria 🙂
Yes – book a trip to the West Coast and you guys come over for dinner and a whole lot of wine – then we’ll run too! Sandra came in 2016, Sue in 2017 – maybe I’ll see you here in 2018! 🙂
Either way, I hope we get to see each other and run together some time this year.
Let’s talk about your boys’ sweaters for a moment – so CUTE! I need to shop for Josh and those would look great on him. Love yourtaste…
I totally hear you about not having to be a #badass in that crazy weather. Enjoy the treadmill, movies and warmth my friend! At the end of the day, you’re still a #badass runner/athlete! xo
I would love nothing more than to do exactly that!! I think our kids would love each other too 🙂
The sweaters are from the Ralph Lauren outlet store near here. I go shopping there every year with my dad and brother and always get the boys’ Christmas outfits!
Thanks so much Nat!